1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a sewer and drain cleaner and more particularly to a battery-powered sewer and drain cleaner.
2. Description of the Related Art
Sewer and drain cleaners are normally hand-driven or electrically driven. The professional grade sewer and drain cleaners are normally powered by an alternating current (AC) electric motor. The sewer and drain cleaners used by plumbers are normally used in wet conditions since the sewer and drain cleaners are not normally used unless there has been a sewer or drain backup or the like. Normally, a plumber will use an extension cord which extends from the AC electric motor on the cleaner to an electrical outlet. Frequently, the electrical extension cord comes into contact with water thereby posing an extremely dangerous electrical shock hazard. Many plumbers are electrocuted annually when the electrically driven sewer and drain cleaners are used in such wet conditions.
Sewer machines require unusually high torque motors in a compact package to accomplish their intended tasks in a normal work environment which requires easily transportable, lightweight machinery handled by a single operator.
There is no prior art for sewer cleaning machines suggesting alternatives to high voltage AC motors for the high torque required that can alleviate problems of inconvenience, lack of portability and danger of electrical shock and electrocution of said high voltage AC motors.
Though many AC appliances have been converted to DC battery power over the years, the unusually high torque requirements of sewer cleaning machines and DC motors which can provide the required torque have a host of inherent problems that have not been solved in the prior art. Such problems include, among others, damaging high inrush current on motor startup that can potentially destroy the very electrical components of the power and control circuitry that start, stop, reverse and otherwise control the motor itself. The advantages of battery-powered, DC operation have not been realized since the damage induced by the high inrush current has not previously been overcome until this invention.